


Vignettes

by Kiraly



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sharing a Body
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2018-11-10 21:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11135064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: A series of moments with Cute Boyfriends Emil and Lalli. Sometimes fluffy. Sometimes angsty. Not all tags apply to all chapters!.I've now updated the first chapter notes to include a brief summary for each chapter. Hopefully that will make it easier to find the different stories.





	1. Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> So for a little while now I've been writing little Emil/Lalli ficlets in between other projects, and since the current events in the comic (page [731](http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=731), for future readers) have me both excited (because Lalli's opening up!) and frustrated (because I REALLY wanted Emil to get that fist bump!) I figured now would be a good time to post the ones that are finished. Each short work will get its own chapter with appropriate tags, and I'll probably add more whenever I have something.
> 
> Also, as the tags suggest, several of these are AU fics, either modern-day (a few sort of relate to my Hipster Band AU) or just general "everything is okay, they're dating and living together" canon-divergent stories. Again, I'll do my best to indicate anything like that at the beginning of each chapter.
> 
> Update: I decided to make an index so it's easier to find specific stories (and so people can skip over things they don't want to read, like the AUs or angst chapters or something).
> 
>  **Chapter 1: Moonlight.** The bed is cold without Lalli in it, so Emil goes to find him. (Teen, fluff, cuddling)  
>  **Chapter 2: Touch.** Sometimes they get the house to themselves, and Lalli makes it count. (Teen, implied sex, modern AU)  
>  **Chapter 3: Sunlight and Flowers.** The world is dark, but there are bright spots. (Gen, angst and fluff, canon-divergent)  
>  **Chapter 4: Fading Like A Flower.** Emil is like a flower, fading at night and rising again with the dawn. Lalli is the opposite, but that's all right. (Gen, fluff)  
>  **Chapter 5: Summer Sun, Winter Moon.** No matter the season, some things don't change. (Teen, implied sex, cuddling, ambiguous post-canon or AU setting)  
>  **Chapter 6: Unwritten Love Letters.** Some things don't need to be spoken. (Gen, poetry, fluff)  
>  **Chapter 7: Fingertip Kiss.** In the midst of a series of bad events, a touch sends Emil's thoughts in another direction. (Gen, canon setting)  
>  **Chapter 8: Warmth in Winter.** The world is cold, but Emil and Lalli find ways to keep each other warm. (Teen, canon and post-canon, dressing and undressing, drabbles)  
>  **Chapter 9: No Space Between Us.** They’ve never been this close before. Probably no one has. (Gen, angst, body-sharing, canon-ish)  
>  **Chapter 10: Help.** Sharing a body has more consequences than they realized, and now Lalli has broken Emil's dream. (Gen, anst, body-sharing, dreamworld shenanigans, fire cw)  
>  **Chapter 11: Scout's note to a Golden-haired Swede.** Sometimes it's easier to borrow words than to come up with your own. (Gen, poetry, magnetic poetry)  
>  **Chapter 12: Coming Clean.** Emil and Lalli reach the pickup spot and finally get that bath Emil wanted. Lalli is less impressed, but maybe it's not all bad. (Gen, bathing together, all dialogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bed is cold without Lalli in it, so Emil goes to find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title:** Moonlight  
>  **Rating:** Teen (references to sex)  
>  **Setting:** Either Modern AU or Post-Canon - not specified

 

 Emil wakes alone. He opens his eyes slowly, staring at the ceiling. In the dim light filtering through the curtains, he can barely see the outline of the room. But he doesn't need his eyes to know he’s the only one in the bed.

With a sigh, he sits up and pushes his hair out of his face. The space beside him is cold; Lalli hasn't just gone out to the bathroom, then. He rolls off the bed and lifts the blanket to peer underneath. Nothing. So it wasn't a bad dream, then. Sometimes Emil wakes up during those, even though he's a heavy sleeper and Lalli is not. Sometimes, he can comfort Lalli through the aftermath, hold him close and rub his back until he's soothed back to sleep. Other times, he wakes to find Lalli hidden beneath the bed, too raw from his nightmares to even be touched.

But Lalli isn't under there tonight, so it must be something else. Emil could wait for him to come back; he does, usually, when he's ready. But he's awake now, and wondering is keeping him from falling asleep, so he pulls on a pair of sweatpants and goes out to look for his boyfriend.

That one floorboard—the one he always forgets about until too late—creaks as Emil steps into the hall. He sighs and keeps going. Even without that, he knows Lalli would hear his approach. It's not as though he's trying to hide, anyway, and thankfully Lalli isn't, either. He's perched in the window seat, shrouded but not obscured by the gauzy drapes Emil's mother insisted on. He has his forehead pressed against the glass. It's as though he's trying to get as close to the outside world—the wind in the trees, the moon peeking through wispy clouds—as it's possible to get without leaving the apartment.

Some nights, the cool glass is not enough. Sometimes, Emil comes out to find an open window, and Lalli gone.

He never asks what Lalli does on those nights. A lesser man, or one who didn't understand Lalli like Emil does, might be jealous. But Emil knows Lalli would not go seeking human comfort outside their bed. It's just that, some nights, he can't stand to be trapped inside four walls. He goes, and he does whatever he does, and then he comes home and crawls back in with Emil.

But tonight, he's still here, even if part of him is far away. Emil walks over to the window and leans against the wall, just watching. Lalli sighs; his breath fogs the glass. Then he turns his gaze to Emil and waits.

"Couldn't sleep?" Emil asks. Lalli shakes his head. He slides over a little to make space, and Emil sinks down next to him. That's all the excuse Lalli needs to crawl into his lap. His hands are cold, but his breath is warm against Emil's neck. Emil wraps his arms around him and runs his fingers down Lalli's bare back. "You know, there's a perfectly nice bathrobe hanging on the bedroom door," Emil murmurs. He'd bought it for Lalli as a Yule gift—it had seemed like it might be useful for these late-night wanderings. But for the most part Lalli ignores its existence, preferring to ramble through the apartment in whatever he happens to be wearing—or not wearing—before bed. "Or blankets. We have lots of those."

Lalli snorts at the suggestion. "Is there something wrong with what I have on?" He snuggles closer, sliding his hands down to warm them below Emil's waistband.

Emil's laugh comes out rough, because strictly speaking Lalli doesn't have _anything_ on. "No. I just worry you'll get cold, that's all."

"Hmm." Lalli brings his lips close to Emil's ear. "I guess that means you'll just have to warm me up, doesn't it?" He presses a kiss to Emil's jaw.

"Mmm." Emil tips his head back, allowing Lalli to kiss down his jawline. Lalli's lips brush feather-light, sending shivers through Emil that have nothing to do with the cold. He lets out a sigh when Lalli pulls away, but his boyfriend isn't finished yet.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Lalli whispers. In the moonlight, his eyes glow blue.

"Not without you. The bed was cold." Emil threads his fingers through Lalli's hair and tugs him forward, bringing Lalli in for a lingering kiss on the lips. Lalli smiles against his mouth.

"Then maybe we should go warm it up."

They abandon the window seat, falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs. For a moment, Emil thinks it might not be so bad to let the bed grow colder and just stay right here, wrapped up in Lalli and bathed in moonlight. But then he gets one of Lalli's elbows in his ribs, and bed suddenly seems like a much better idea. Laughing, he rolls to his feet and pulls Lalli after him.

Some time later, when the moon is gone but the sun still hasn't shown its face, Emil wakes again. He's not alone; familiar breathing fills the room, so soft he can barely hear it. The sheets beside him are warm, but not nearly as warm as the body curled against him. Lalli smiles in his sleep, and Emil smiles back.


	2. Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes they get the house to themselves, and Lalli makes it count.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title:** Touch  
>  **Rating:** Teen (very strongly implied sexual content)  
>  **Setting:** Hipster Band AU or other modern AU in which Emil, Lalli, and Tuuri are housemates

"Lalli?" Emil closed the door behind him and dropped his bag on the floor. The house was dark; Tuuri had gone off somewhere with Reynir, and she probably wouldn't be back until late. Which meant plenty of opportunity for Emil and Lalli. Emil took his shoes off and descended the stairs to the basement. "Lalli?" He tapped softly on Lalli's door. "Are you awake?"

Silence, then a thump. A moment later, the door cracked open and Lalli peered through. "Mrrr?" When he saw Emil, he disappeared, but left the door open. Emil smiled and followed him inside.

"Did I wake you up?" Emil asked. Lalli had retreated to his bed and lay facedown on top of the blankets. He turned his head to the side and nodded. "Do you want me to go?" A head shake. Lalli closed his eyes and reached an arm out. "Okay."

No matter how many times it happened, Emil still couldn't quite believe that Lalli actually allowed him to come so close. When Lalli's grasping fingers caught his wrist and pulled him down onto the bed, the world fell into place amidst the tangle of limbs. The sheets smelled like Lalli's soap—something with pine, maybe, or another plant Emil couldn't identify—and were warm from Lalli's body. Lalli pulled Emil close and buried his face in his shirt. "Missed you," he murmured against Emil's chest. 

"I missed you, too." Never mind that he'd only been gone for a few hours; in moments like this, even the thought of separation was painful. Emil wanted to breathe Lalli in, to wrap them so tightly together that no one would be able to tell them apart. When Lalli pulled away, Emil groaned. "Lalli—" He stretched up as though to follow.

Lalli released a huff of breath and pushed Emil back down. He grabbed the hem of his own shirt and pulled it off in one fluid motion, then reached for Emil's. His hands hovered at the hem, and his head tilted to the side. An unspoken question.

"Yes," Emil whispered. "Please." Lalli smirked, and pushed the fabric oh-so-slowly up Emil's chest. "Lalli.  _ God."   _ He was kissing his way after the shirt now, placing his lips where his fingers trailed over Emil's skin. Emil shivered; he was a pile of kindling beneath Lalli's mouth, every inch of him set ablaze by those gentle touches. "Don't stop."

But Lalli, damn him, was determined to go slow. He stopped when the shirt had just reached Emil's armpits, the bunched fabric making it difficult to move his arms down. Instead of pulling the shirt all the way off, Lalli ran his fingers lazily over Emil's exposed skin. He circled the nipples, slow, agonizing strokes, and left one hand to keep that up while the other drifted back down. By the time Emil realized what he had in mind, Lalli's fingers were tugging at his waistband. "Yes?" Lalli asked. It was phrased as a question, but as far as Emil was concerned, there was no question at all. He'd been lost the moment Lalli pulled his shirt off. 

"Lalli." He breathed the name out, barely suppressing a moan. He sat up just enough to capture Lalli's mouth in his, then groaned against his lips as Lalli's hand found its target. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm sorry, I sort of chickened out and just sort of...ended it. If anyone out there can write smut, feel free to pick this up where I left off.


	3. Sunlight and Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world is dark, but there are bright spots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title:** Sunlight and Flowers  
>  **Rating:** General Audiences  
>  **Setting:** Alternate Universe - Canon Divergent. Based on the events of [Page 730](http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=730), but not compliant with 731.

"Hey. Hey, look."

Lalli didn't want to look. He wanted to go back to the tank, crawl under the bed, and stay there until the nightmare was over. But for some reason he wasn't allowed to do that. They kept sending him out to do things, like fishing or wandering through Old World buildings with weird things in them. And as if that wasn't enough, they kept sending Emil with him.

It was hard being around Emil at the best of times. He was loud, and clumsy, and he insisted on talking as though Lalli could understand more than one word in five. He was also—and this was the worst of all—unfairly beautiful, like a patch of summer sun in the midst of winter. It had been hard to ignore that even when things were going well. And now, when everything had fallen apart, his brightness was almost too much to bear.

Emil was talking, smiling wide and gesturing at something on the floor. A shaft of sunlight leaked through the roof, and from what Lalli could tell Emil was telling him about the flower growing in it. It was just an ordinary flower; it had no more magic than any living thing. But Emil smiled like he'd discovered the moon and stars. And he looked at Lalli like he expected him to share in the joy.

_"Right? Friends? Come on, I know you understand that word."_

Emil spoke more and more slowly, the way he did when he was waiting for a response. He kept saying the same word over and over. _Vänner_. Whatever that meant. Something important. And then Emil held out his fist, face alight with enthusiasm.

Lalli looked at the outstretched hand. Looked at Emil's sparkling eyes. Looked at the flower, growing in the ruins of a dead world in the middle of winter. It looked an awful lot like the bright seed that had grown up in his own heart in spite of everything. And so Lalli turned back to Emil, curled his own hand into a fist, and tapped their knuckles gently together. "Vänner," he said. And then he caught Emil's hand and eased the fingers open so he could fit his own in between.

Emil's face flooded with surprise, but he didn't let go. He squeezed Lalli's hand, and warmth spread out from where they touched. He said something else—still in Swedish, but soft—and tugged Lalli toward the gathered supplies. Together they hefted the wheeled cart, one handle for each of them. It was a stupid way to travel; it would be more efficient for Lalli to scout ahead while Emil came behind with the cart. But Emil didn't let go of Lalli's hand, and Lalli wasn't going to let go either.

Outside, winter still gripped the land. There was no safety in the Silent World, where trolls and ghosts and cruel dreams lurked in the shadows. But that didn't mean they couldn't snatch summer moments when they had a chance.

They left the building hand in hand. Behind them, the flower remained in its patch of borrowed sun, waiting for spring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If and Swedish speakers know a different word that Emil would be using for "Friends", feel free to correct me. ^_^;


	4. Fading Like a Flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emil is like a flower, fading at night and rising again with the dawn. Lalli is the opposite, but that's all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written for a prompt for the [Synchronised Screaming Flash Fic Challenge](https://synchronisedscreaming.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr. (Song title edition, hooray!)  
> The prompt was: Emil/Lalli - Fading Like a Flower 
> 
> I also wrote it in about half an hour, which just goes to show that poetic Lalli is an excellent muse.

The fire is dying, and so is the light in Emil’s eyes.

Lalli knows, reasonably, that it’s selfish to expect anything different. He’s had years to get used to staying out all night and coming home with the dawn. Being awake with the sun has been hard for him, so why should staying up late be any different for Emil? Still, it aches a little. The Emil-shaped piece in Lalli’s heart hurts whenever he comes back to find that Emil is half-asleep already, or that he’s actually drifted off while waiting. He always apologizes when he wakes, of course, in a string of Swedish too garbled for Lalli to interpret. But that doesn’t mean Lalli has to like it.

“Did you...find anything...beautiful?” Emil asks, slurring his words together. He’s long since finished Lalli’s decontamination, but neither of them has made any move to go inside. This is the last private moment they’ll have until tomorrow. Lalli tries to savor it as much as possible, and he knows Emil does, too. But Emil’s head is drooping, like he might pitch forward at any moment. At best, he’d end up face-first in the dirt. At worst, he’d fall all the way and set his hair on fire.  _ That  _ would certainly put an end to their quiet moment.

So Lalli tugs at Emil’s shoulder and points to his lap. “Here.”

Emil squints at him. “Your….lap is beautiful?”

Lalli lets out a disgusted snort. “No. You, here. Then I’ll tell.” He waits for Emil to process, and is rewarded with a smile.

“Oh.” It’s still too dark to see if the red in Emil’s face is from firelight or something else, but Lalli doesn’t care. Not when Emil is stretching out on the log and dropping his head into Lalli’s lap, spilling strands of gold across his uniform tunic. Lalli brushes his fingers across Emil’s forehead and idly plays with the strands.

“Better?” Lalli asks. Emil nods, a confirmation of what Lalli already knew. He’s more relaxed now, less anxious. He softens into the folds of Lalli’s lap, breathing slowing. Lalli sighs—it won’t be long now—and starts to tell Emil about the trees he saw, the ones with the bright red berries and little birds hopping all around them. Lalli hadn’t had time to watch them for long, but he suspects Emil would have liked to see it. Even though it’s unlikely Emil understands one word in five of the description he spins, falling naturally into the familiar rhythm of his native tongue. Emil told him, once, that everything Lalli said sounded like poetry. Lalli had laughed, but the words warmed him better than any fire.

The fire is down to embers, now. Lalli’s story trails off, fading into a murmured mimicry of the birds’ cries. Emil sleeps. It’s all right, though. It’s enough to have him close, to be here together for the last dregs of the night. Soon enough the sun will rise, and the flowers open to greet it. Then it will be Emil’s time to wake, and Lalli’s to rest in his lover’s embrace.

 


	5. Summer Sun, Winter Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No matter the season, some things don't change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for this week's Synchronised Screaming flash fic challenge.  
> The prompt was: Emil/Lalli - summer sunshine and winter moonlight
> 
> **Title:** Summer Sun, Winter Moon  
>  **Rating:** Teen (implied sex)  
>  **Setting:** Ambiguous (could be post-canon, could be some kind of Cute Boyfriends AU)

Emil/Lalli - summer sunshine and winter moonlight

Emil glows golden no matter the time of year. But in summer, draped languid on the grass with his hair spilling across his discarded shirt, he’s incandescent. Lalli shakes off his own lethargy and rises on an elbow to get a better look. Just a look, nothing more—as much as he wants to trace the lines of Emil’s body with his fingers, or maybe his tongue, he also doesn’t want to wake him. Time enough for that later. It’s June, and the days are long. They won’t have to rush to get back before dark.

Lalli should probably nap too—especially if he intends to keep Emil up late tonight. But instead he watches the breath rise and fall in his lover’s chest, the breeze stirring his hair. He drinks the vision in until Emil’s eyes crack open, two pieces of cloudless sky looking up at him. 

“Hey,” Emil says. His voice is thick with sleep, and he licks his lips. “Guess I drifted off for a minute. Sorry.” He starts to sit up, but Lalli stops him with a gentle hand. It’s easy enough to swing a leg over, to brush aside the golden hair and lower his mouth to Emil’s. Everything is easy, on this lazy summer afternoon. Just like Emil makes things easier all the time, with that spark of summer he carries inside him.

Lalli kisses him again, and tastes sunshine.

* * *

 

It’s far too cold to sleep alone, even if they wanted to. Luckily for Emil, Lalli doesn’t want to—they’ve come a long way from the days when he couldn’t sleep unless he was under a bed. It still gives Emil a little thrill though, seeing the moonlight reflecting off Lalli’s skin. He comes to bed after Emil most nights, which means Emil gets a fine view as Lalli peels away his uniform and stacks it neatly on the chair next to his side of the bed. Emil has taken to leaving the curtains open a crack, just so he has better light to see by. If Lalli’s noticed, he hasn’t said anything.

He doesn’t say anything now, either, as he pushes aside the covers and crawls into bed. He does his best to disturb the blankets as little as possible, but a shiver of cold air still worms its way in. That’s fine, though; it makes the next part easier.

“Come here,” Emil whispers. He reaches out, and Lalli eases into his arms. His skin is ice-cold at first—Emil can’t help flinching a little—but soon warms where their bodies meet. Lalli tucks his face against Emil’s neck and sighs.

“Tired?” Emil asks. He’d been about to drift off, but Lalli’s proximity has given him other ideas.

“Mmm.” Lalli leans back so Emil can see his face. His eyes catch the moon, wide and silvered and deep enough to drown in. “Not really.” He tilts his head to the side. “You?”

Emil smiles and tucks Lalli’s hair behind his ear. “Not at all.” It’s late, and he has to be up before the sun. But when Lalli pulls him down for a kiss, it feels like they have all the time in the world.


	6. Unwritten Love Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things don't need to be spoken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for this week's Synchronised Screaming challenge.  
> Prompt was Emil/Lalli: Write me a love letter with your eyes  
> (What can I say, it was begging to be a poem).

True lovers  
Cannot always speak  
In flowered words  
Or gentle assurances  
Or sentences meant to soothe.

You, my love,  
Speak volumes  
With your fingers  
In my hair, smoothing it  
On my skin, to decontaminate  
Wrapped around my wrist  
Begging me wait, or come.

I feel your eyes on me  
Drawn like lodestones  
Compass needles pointing ever to my north.  
Crinkled corners, sky-bright delight;  
Your laugh pours out.  
Shadows, too, weighing down  
A cast of mist-grey morning  
When I go away,  
You worry.

Your mouth  
So clumsy  
When you open it with questions  
Or babbled stories, too fast to understand.  
But gentle  
Pressed against my brow,  
My lips,  
My throat.  
You drink me in, savor me,  
spill me back out with a sigh,  
Content.

So write me a love letter with your eyes,  
Your hands,  
Your kisses sweet as cookies.  
We need no words;  
We only need each other.


	7. Fingertip Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of a series of bad events, a touch sends Emil's thoughts in another direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got inspired by that one panel on [page 771](http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=771) and couldn't resist writing a ficlet about it...but I didn't post it anywhere before the next page happened, so it ended up less shippy than I intended. I posted it on Tumblr so many of you may have seen it already, but I thought I'd put it up here too for those who aren't on Tumblr.

Some morons just had to put a hole there. Perfect. As though Emil’s day wasn’t bad enough already. He hadn’t minded waiting for Lalli; he’d thought, foolishly, that it would give them some time to mend whatever was broken between them. But Lalli wouldn’t even walk next to him, never mind giving him a chance to talk. And now that he thought about it, Emil doubted his words would have helped anything. They always seemed to come out wrong, and he couldn’t even say them in the right language.

So the hole was just the icing on the cake, really. Emil grumbled to himself as he gathered his scattered belongings and climbed out, trying not to think about the dust coating his uniform and permeating his hair. With his luck, Lalli had probably ignored his request to wait. He’d have to run after him and look like an even bigger idiot.

But Lalli was waiting at the top of the hole. His back was facing Emil, stiff and straight with unspoken tension. Up to Emil to break the silence, then.

“All right, we can,” damn that dust, it made it hard to breathe, “Continue on now.” Lalli turned, stepping closer as Emil hauled himself out of the hole and made it to his feet. “That was really—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish, because suddenly Lalli was right beside him, pressing his fingertips to Emil’s mouth. Quiet. The gesture superseded any language barrier between them. Emil obeyed, closing his mouth and asking questions with his eyes instead. Lalli returned his gaze, eyes clouded with worry. His hands stayed in place even after Emil quieted, heat passing through the thin gloves to burn against Emil’s lips. Emil wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to press his lips to Lalli’s skin with no fabric in between, and no danger to provoke the contact. He wondered if he’d ever be brave enough to find out.

For now, it was enough to be caught in this moment with Lalli, lips meeting fingertips in a shared agreement. Quiet. Stillness. Patience to wait for the scout’s next move. When Lalli caught Emil’s wrist, he let himself be pulled; when Lalli shoved him ahead, directing him away from the path in favor of staying in the sunlight, he let himself be pushed. He held his silence, kept his questions for later. Lalli would lead him to safety.

And then, because nothing was ever easy for Emil, the building exploded.


	8. Warmth in Winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world is cold, but Emil and Lalli find ways to keep each other warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two drabbles and two double drabbles (as in, 2 100-word ficlets and 2 200-word ficlets) written for this week's [Synchronised Screaming](https://synchronisedscreaming.tumblr.com/) challenge on Tumblr.
> 
>  **Prompt:** Any SSSS Pairing - love in a cold climate  
>  **Rating:** Gen-teen (very light references to sex? maybe?)  
>  **Setting:** More or less canon-compliant, or possibly canon-divergent in a "nothing bad happens to anyone" kind of way
> 
> Also, I just posted another ficlet right before this (another thing I'd originally posted on Tumblr) so be sure to check out the previous chapter too!

 

 

 

 

“Good morning.” The words come shrouded in a cloud of breath. Lalli darts through–more frozen vapor means nothing, after a night in the cold–and brushes past Emil’s greeting to the warmth inside. He wants dry clothes, and sleep, but has to put up with decontamination and questions and the twist of disappointment in Emil’s eyes.  _Oh. Right._

He makes amends over breakfast, steam rising from the bowl that warms his hands. “Morning,” he mutters, laying his head on Emil’s shoulder. Emil sighs, and smooths back his damp hair, and plants a kiss on his brow when the others aren’t looking.

* * *

 

The click of the latch is all the warning Emil gets; even in boots, Lalli moves without sound. The soft rustle of shed clothes could be the wind, but there’s no mistaking the movement of the covers, pushed back to admit a second person. If he opened his eyes, he’d see moonlight reflected in Lalli’s–but he doesn’t. He likes to stay still sometimes, here in bed where he can pretend to be as skilled at silence as his lover. If he tries hard enough, maybe someday he’ll succeed.

“AAHHH!” An icy touch. “Lalli! Your feet are freezing!”

But not tonight.

* * *

 

“Are you sure you’ll be warm enough?” Emil sifts through the pile of winter clothes and pulls out another wool shirt. It’s too big for him, which means Lalli would be swimming in it.

Lalli sighs and folds his arms. “I’m sure.” He’s already wearing one more shirt than he normally would, and an extra pair of socks after Emil spent ten minutes fretting about frostbite. “I  _have_ been out scouting in the snow before, you know. I’m from  _Finland_.” He’s lived through colder winters than this.

But this is the first winter–other than the one in the Silent World, when there were other things to worry about–that he’s lived with Emil. And even though Emil doesn’t worry about getting cold himself, he seems convinced that his boyfriend will blow away in the breeze if he doesn’t weigh him down.

Emil twists the shirt in his hands. “Right. Finland. I know, I just…” he makes a helpless gesture. “Please come back with all your fingers and toes, okay?”

Lalli rolls his eyes, but tugs the shirt out of Emil’s hands and squeezes into the circle of his arms. “Don’t worry,” he says, brushing his lips against Emil’s cheek. “I will.”

* * *

 

Emil’s coat hits the floor with a _splat_. It’s almost enough to drown out the sound of his chattering teeth–almost.

“Pants,” Lalli says, tugging on them. Emil fumbles with the fastening, cursing at his cold-stiff fingers. Lalli has to help in the end–a part of Emil registers that this is  _not_ how he’d imagined Lalli undressing him would go–and leaves Emil to peel off his soaked, clinging undershirt. Every layer gone makes him shiver more, but it has to be done. Even though it’s  _horribly_ embarrassing, almost as bad as falling through ice into waist-deep water had been.

“S-sorry I’m s-such a m-mess” he stutters out. It’s hard to tell if his voice is shaking from cold, or leftover adrenaline. It isn’t the first time he’s had to run from a troll, or even the first time he’s run from one while half-frozen and soaked to the skin. But it isn’t the kind of thing that gets easier.

“Shhh.” Lalli waves away his apologies and helps him into the tub, sloshing lukewarm water over him. Slim fingers slide through his hair, more for comfort than any practical purpose. Emil sighs and leans into the touch. Slowly, he begins to thaw.

 

 


	9. No Space Between Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've never been this close before. Probably no one has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, a new ficlet for this collection! I've been filling prompts on Tumblr based on [this list](http://worldsentwined.tumblr.com/post/167290660839/prompts-1-things-you-said-at-1-am-2-things) of "things you said when-" phrases. This one was based on the prompt: "Things you said with no space between us" and was requested by straightforwardly. With the current developments in canon, I couldn't help taking this approach. ^_^ (Find it on Tumblr [here](http://worldsentwined.tumblr.com/post/167316694444/for-the-ask-meme-emillalli-and16).)
> 
> (Also, I've now updated the notes on the first chapter to contain a table of contents, just in case you want to find or avoid a specific ficlet.)
> 
> **Rating:** Gen  
>  **Setting:** Canon (more-or-less)  
>  **Other tags:** Body sharing, angst

“Do you think we’ll find the others tomorrow?” Emil kept his voice low. There was no telling  _what_ might be listening, out there in the dark. And the person he was asking would hear him regardless.

_Maybe. Or maybe they’ll find us._ It still felt strange, to hear Lalli talking without really hearing him. Stranger still to understand his words. It was a comfort, in some ways. It made him feel less alone.

_Unless a troll finds us first, of course._

Then again, sometimes it wasn’t a comfort at all.

“Lalli!” Emil scowled at the prone body next to him. Even if Lalli’s voice wasn’t coming from there, it helped to have somewhere to look. “Stop saying things like that!”

_I’m just saying, it’s possible._

Emil sighed. “You’re not wrong, but you’re not helping, either.”

_Mrrr._ An eloquent response. It was almost like he was awake.  _Well if you don’t want to talk about trolls, then would you find an extra blanket for my body? It might get cold._

“Oh, sure. I’ll just go poking around this possibly-troll-infested building and ask if they have any spare bed linens. What a good idea.”

Stony silence from Lalli. Emil groaned and sat up. “Tell you what, I’ll just share this one. Maybe we’ll be warmer together.” He shifted over to lie down next to Lalli, adding his own moth-eaten curtain to the covers piled over Lalli. “Ugh, what a dump. I don’t even want to know what my hair looks like right now.” He brushed a cobweb from Lalli’s hair as he said it. 

_Why did you do that?_

“Do what?” 

_That. The hair._ If Lalli had sounded annoyed before, now he sounded bewildered.

“Uhh…because it was a mess? Even if  _I_  have to look like a disaster, it doesn’t mean  _you_ do.”

Lalli’s snort was practically audible.  _Really? That’s what you’re worried about right now?_

“No! I just…it gives me something to think about. Other than how we might both die any second, or how either I’m crazy or you’re really hanging out inside my head instead of your own body. Or how you might be hurt in other ways, and I have no way of knowing, and I can’t even tell if you  _are_ cold because  _you_ can’t tell me, and–”

_Emil._

“And what if you never wake up, I don’t know what I’m going to do–”

_Emil…_

“We could just be stuck here forever! Have you thought of that? What if we can’t get home?”

_EMIL!_

The mental shout shocked Emil to silence. 

_You…you can keep touching my hair. If you want._

Emil let out a breath that was halfway to a sob. “O-okay?” He wound his fingers in the soft strands.

_Feel better?_

“Umm. A little.” And weirdly enough, he did. This might all end in disaster–if the present situation didn’t already qualify–but at least he and Lalli were together. In some ways, they were closer than they had ever been. “Thanks.”

_Don’t mention it,_ Lalli said. He sounded as tired as Emil felt.  _Now get some sleep._

And in spite of all his worries, Emil did.


	10. Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sharing a body has more consequences than they realized, and now Lalli has broken Emil's dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing a prompt request meme over on [Tumblr](http://worldsentwined.tumblr.com/post/169590111279/hurtcomfort-dialog-prompts), and was given the prompt “I don’t know where I am. Help me!” for these two. Since the most recent [page](http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=844) left us with a terrible weekend cliffhanger, I got inspired and came up with this. It'll probably get crushed by canon in a day or two, but such is the life of a fanfic writer. ^_^

“I don’t know where I am. Help me!”

_You’re fine. Quiet now._

“But I don’t–what happened? There was a giant, and I could see it through the  _wall,_ and it was talking to me and–”

_I said you’re fine! Don’t worry about that._

But something was wrong, and Emil knew it. He didn’t remember these trees, or the rough wooden platform beneath him. “Are you lying to me to try to make me feel better?”

_When have I ever tried to make you feel better?_

Lalli had a point there, Emil had to admit. Though there had been that one time on the train–it seemed like years ago, had it really only been weeks? In any case, Lalli had consoled him then, smoothing his hair after the giant’s attack. But that had been after the danger passed. In a life-or-death situation, Lalli wouldn’t spare a thought for his feelings.

“Okay, but…can’t you at least tell me what happened? This doesn’t look like the Silent World  _or_ one of my dreams. And it must be a dream, right? I can understand you.”

And suddenly he could  _see_ Lalli too, stepping through a hole in the air that disappeared as soon as he arrived. Lalli looked around and nodded once, as though satisfied with what he found. “It’s not your dream,” he said, “it’s mine.”

Emil sat up with a groan. His head ached, or felt like it should, and even though they spoke the same language, he still had no idea what Lalli was saying. “Why am I here?”

Lalli sighed and seated himself across from Emil. “I had to put you somewhere safe, and it’s the only safe place I have.” He looked away, though there was nothing to see past the trees but misty darkness. “I…did something.” The words held the weight of something left unspoken.

“Lalli.” The mage’s body tensed, but he kept his gaze turned away. “Lalli, what did you do?”

Lalli tucked his knees up and buried his head in his arms. “I told you not to look. I  _told_ you. But you didn’t listen, and then you wouldn’t listen to anything but the giant.” He shivered. “We must never meet their eyes. Or let them talk. Some spirits we can reason with, to send them on. But not when they’re all twisted together like that.” 

Emil swallowed hard. He remembered that, now. The giant had spoken. He’d felt sorry for it. And then–

“It…attacked us?” he asked.

“You. It attacked you, in your head. It would have come for our bodies later.” Lalli picked at the hem of his tunic, worrying the fabric between his fingers. “So I stopped it.”

“But how did you get out of my dream? I thought you were…stuck there?” His memories of Lalli in his head were fuzzy, but he thought he remembered that.

“I was.” A pause, space for Emil to ask a question. He couldn’t find the right words. Then Lalli said, “I broke it.”

“You broke…my dream?” Of all the answers Lalli could have given, that was one he hadn’t expected.

“I had to!” Lalli said. He finally looked at Emil, practically vibrating with agitation. “You weren’t  _listening!_ The giant would have gotten us, and–”

“How,” Emil asked, still trying to process it all, “How did you do it?”

Lalli stilled. “There was fire outside that house. I used it.”

_Fire._ It had haunted Emil’s dreams for years, clawing its way into the mundane domestic scenes of his childhood. He ate cake, and distant fires burned. His father had to work late, and trails of smoke could be seen from the windows. And in some dreams, the very worst ones, fire roared through the house and took everything with it, including Emil.

“The house might come back eventually,” Lalli offered, mistaking the root of Emil’s silence. “Dreams are strange like that. But I couldn’t leave you there while I used your body to get us to safety. You might not have survived.”

Emil shook his head. “So you…burned down my dream, took over my body, and brought me to  _your_ dream? I don’t understand anything, but…thanks? I’m glad we’re safe, and together.”

“You really don’t understand anything,” Lalli agreed. He rested his head on his knees again, but he didn’t look away from Emil this time. “And I’m glad too.”


	11. Scout's note to a Golden-haired Swede

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's easier to borrow words than to come up with your own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We had a poetry week over at [Synchronised Screaming](https://synchronisedscreaming.tumblr.com/) a few weeks ago, and I had a lot of fun with the [Magnetic Poetry](https://magneticpoetry.com/pages/play-online) site that was linked with this prompt. The prompt was _Any/Any - love song - magnetic poetry_ , and I chose Emil/Lalli. (I used the nature-themed set, as it seemed appropriate for Lalli). 
> 
> I've included both the magnetic poetry screenshot and the typed version, with punctuation.

 

**Scout’s note to a Golden-haired Swede**

If you walk through

this winter wild

and wander beneath

the cold cloud river

rest, breathe,

grow soft.

I will give over

my blanket

and be

warm, gentle.

Our quiet night secret

lonely no longer.


	12. Coming Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emil and Lalli have arrived safely at the pickup spot, and finally get the bath Emil asked for. Lalli is not impressed - but maybe it's not all bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for a [Synchronised Screaming](https://synchronisedscreaming.tumblr.com/) prompt - the week's theme was "all-dialogue" stories, and the prompt was "Emil/Lalli - Two halves of a whole conversation." Inspired heavily by [page 968](http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=968).

“Isn’t this great? My hair is finally getting clean.”

“We just got here. Why did they throw us right into the water?”

“I don’t know about you, but I think the smell was worse than the hunger pangs. Gods, actual soap! I could sing.”

“The soap hurts my nose, I don’t like it.”

“Especially after that giant just—plop! All that duskling juice, right through the hole. I never thought I’d be so happy to have a trash can to hide in.”

“We weren’t even touching any trolls today! It’s not fair.”

“Sure, it’d be nice if the water was a little warmer, but you can’t have everything. We might as well enjoy it, right?”

“I hope this will be over soon. The really big one made me get back in the tub, even though I was already clean enough.”

“Mmm, yeah. Definitely nice to be back in—well, not civilization, but a place with a bathtub, anyway. One more round of shampoo should do it.”

“So if I scrub myself really fast, then maybe—what are you doing? You already did that!”

“Here, Lalli, your hair looks like it could use some attention. You don’t want to look like a bum, do you?”

“Hey! I already washed—I don’t need—mmmm.”

“There, that’s not so bad, right? Everyone needs a deep condition and a scalp massage sometimes.”

“Mmmm.”

“And hey, no offense, but from your hair I’m guessing you haven’t done a deep condition, like…ever. But it’s still nice! Soft. It feels good. I mean…umm. Let me rinse that for you.”

“Mmmm.”

“You know, I’m really glad—I was pretty worried about you. Like, I thought you were going to die, and then I thought we were both going to die, but somehow we made it back in one piece. Or, well, two pieces. I still don’t know what to think about that…thing. When you were…asleep. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is—ah. What am I saying? It’s not like you can even understand this.”

“Why are you talking so much? You know I don’t understand your stupid Swedish.”

“But even so, I guess I’m just…grateful. That we’re both here. And that our hair is finally clean, because I’ve been dying to wash it for days.”

“Mmph. You didn’t have to stop that. I didn’t hate it.”

“There we go, all clean. And we should probably get out soon, the water’s getting cold and we don’t want you to get sick! Since you were, you know, for a while there you—yeah.”

“Are we done now?”

“This was nice, though. It’s such a relief to be clean again.”

“I guess that wasn’t so bad. For a bath.”


End file.
